Unknown Date Goes Here
Time goes here
Will any of us be here to write and read?
Tuesday January 1, 2002
5:45a
Well, seems like we made it this far into the future. But I still have this sense of impending doom, like everything could just fall apart at any moment.
Last night was like most of the others before it, eat supper, watch tv, wash off, watch tv, smoke cigs on the porch, go spread out the bed roll on the floor, read a bit, go to sleep. Peter Jennings had a New Year's Eve special but it was more talk than show what the rest of the world is doing. So we watched more of the regular shows instead.
There were no special insights or sparks of witt and wisdom this morning either. The usual make coffee and smoke cigs outside in the cold air.
I spent yesterday morning at work writing a response to the Skeptic in SciAm. It took 3 hours to get a one line of thought together. Then I gave up. It was cold in the office space again and that chilled the thinking. It's difficult to think about work or writing when thinking about how cold the body is getting. I sent it by email to this computer and it's here now. But I doubt if I'll do anymore with it. No one ever pays me any attention anyway.
It going to snow Wednesday and Thursday this week. I dread it so much this year that I've don't care anymore. Whatever will happen will happen. It's like someone said about intelligence or government policy making, "... we will jump off that bridge when we get to it. ..."
The air care service came yesterday to check on the oxygen concentrator. It has to be replaced because the level is down below 90%. The part that takes the nitrogen and argon out is full. So it will be tomorrow or later when that happens. Probably after the snow has come and gone.
Mom started to wash the drinking glasses I got for her. One was cracked so I had to take it back to Moore's and get another set. Then I went over to my house and laid down on the couch for an hour. Then I drove through town and by DM and Mickey's, they must have been resting since I didn't make enough knocking at the door. So I drove on back to Mom's house. He called later and talked with Mom. It was mostly the news or no-news about Lea, Bob and Edna.
So anyway, it's the beginning of a new year and it will just like all the others before it. There should be a different name for the changing of the years. Don't Panic! ... it's just a different year number.
Wednesday January 2, 2002
6:25a
I was here this morning. The first Winter storm approaches. Dread, dread, dread.
Thursday January 3, 2002
6:20a
The snow and ice on Sunday is predicted to be freezing rain now. And then it's suppose to be snow on Monday. I do hope the power stays on. I'm not sure I can deal with depending on the oxygen tank. It'll be bad enough dealing with the lack of heat.
There will be several storms this season. The jet stream has been in the drooping position to cause them for 7 or 10 days now. It'll stay that way for the month too.
Frances sent a couple of pictures of the snow around her place last evening. Daniel called to ask about our southern snow storm and mentioned that she had sent out email. So I connected to the internet to get them. She sent more email later and I got it this morning. Hookey bobbing is holding onto the bumper of a car and slidding along behind on sneakers. She thinks the university officials are making much ado about nothing compared to the snow in Idaho. I'll have to sent her a note to tell her it's not the amount or the icy conditions, it's the lack of us Southerners knowing how to drive on it.
I will wait till mid morning before going out to see how the roads are and if I'll go to work. Maybe there'll be enough traffic on the by then to break it up into slush.
It's going to be a long dreadful weekend, sitting around waiting till the Sunday storm is over. Or maybe it'll be Sunday evening, night and Monday morning.
God be with us and keep us safe.
Monday January 7, 2002
5:30a
The freezing rain passed over us. It was a cold rain but the winter storm happened more in North Carolina than here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Saturday about 10:00 in the morning I was getting the trash ready to haul off to the recycle place. I bent over one of the trash cans on the porch. My PVC started then and lasted for about 3 hours. I had worried myself into that state of stress again over the possible power outage thing.
I really have to get one of them generators just so I won't have to think about that again. I've always wanted one for emergency heat. But I think about it seldom being used too, or not being able to get it going when needed, or how to get the power cords into the house. I really just have to stop thinking like that too.
The lady who wanted to use the Eastatoe tour page at my website sent me a copy of the newsletter. That was nice. It's the first time I've seen one of those with something I wrote in it. There was another article in there too. That writer mentioned the Ladd - Redmond story they used a few years back. She said I was a Pickens author. That was a suprise too.
Well that all for now.
Wednesday January 9, 2002
5:30a
Maybe when I tell myself a million times it's a waste of time to post to cnn's discussion board I'll quite wasting my time telling myself it's a waste of time and posting my thoughts.
I got another email from a head hunter this morning. Maybe I should start responding to them, even though most seem to be just looking for resumes to build up their data base of resumes. One the other day was for a Unigraphics person. But like all the other software and systems and engineering stuff I've worked with I'm learn just enough to get the job done and they're looking for experts in each one.
Yesterday at I did one of them internet searches on Lewis R Redmond. Two or three references were found. One of them was an article written in 1998, I think. It was mostly the typical folklore and ledgend story, notorious, violent, bootlegging outlaw. Mostly all wrong too. I'll never understand why others don't do their homework. But then again, maybe I did my homework and still don't have it all right. I'm getting anticipation for the graduate student to finish his thesis so I can learn how much I am right or wrong.
I added some to the Terrorism 2001 page yesterday morning. I guess I should work on that some more too. But I'm no better than any of the other posters about that subject. Neither are the political and government officials, they're one in the same. We're all just a bunch of individuals argueing, fighting, debating the same points over and over and over again. It's really getting scarey thinking the individuals who actually can make terrorism and war are just like the ones shouting and insulting each other on discussion boards and in chat rooms.
Friday January 11, 2002
5:50a
Spent my time this morning writing an entry in the Terroris 2001 file.
At work yesterday I started a links page for that browser's opening page. Links to the news, weather, references, and other catagories.
Last Tuesday or Wednesday the air care people came to service the oxygen concentrator. It was only doing 89% instead of the 94% so he mentioned they would swap it. The filter that takes the nitrogen and argon out had become saturated. The snow was Thursday so I figure that delayed things. I called them at lunch time. They bought the new machine that afternoon.
Seems like there was something else I was going to write about here. But it's gone now. Oh well. Oh wait .... The January thaw has arrived. The jet stream has moved back up northward and it's warmer now. It's in the upper 40s on the back porch this morning.
Monday January 14, 2002
5:40a
Saturday, I went to Lowes down in Easley to get a generator. They only had two of the more expensive ones left after the snow. So I didn't get one again, maybe this next weekend. It's going to be raining then. Those things are heavy and I'll have to get help.
The rest of the day I spent doing the normal stuff and then I went over to my house and did things like I use to. Waste time on the internet and other things..
Sunday I thought about calling Leander to see if she wanted to come up to see Mom. She had tried before a couple of times but didn't want to trust the old car. So I called. So she, Susan and Chris were planning to drive up anyway. Then Lucille called and she came over too. So there were visitors yesterday afternoon.
After they left I drove over to my house again to turn the heaters off. And everything got back to normal last evening.
I didn't get what I had planned to do done. Like change the tv antenna, haul of the brush pile and stuff like that. But that's normal isn't.
I started writing about what the intelligence community knew in August. Got it wrote up and was on the verge of posting it. But I didn't. What's the use?
I've been dozing more after waking up the first time the past few nights. Maybe a week or more. It's 5:00 or after by the time I get here into the kitchen. There's just not much time to write and do my usual morning things. So I'm quiting now.
Wednesday January 16, 2002
6:10a
Well, it's been another morning of getting up at 5:00. I don't know what's letting me sleep or at least doze longer. I did wake up the first time about 11:40 and then 4:00. It's been like that for a few days, the getting up about 5:00 that is.
Monday-Tuesday night was restless. I've decided that PVC thing must have happened during the night. But I got over it by the time to go to work.
I really need to do the stats on the web pages. There's been more page visits than normal. I can't see what's attracting the attention by just looking at the long listing. That Terrorism 2001 page is getting some. But the program to strip out the html coding and process the numbers is on the computer at my house. I don't get to spend much time over there anymore.
Well, it's time to eat my bowl of cereal and go get ready for the day.
Thursday January 17, 2002
6:05a
When I went into the laundry room to close the curtains last evening, I saw the books laying on the washing machine and floor. Mom had gone in there and gotten them down. She said she used her walking cane to knock them off. When I saw them I thought maybe she had stood on that step chair she keeps in the bathroom.
It's times like that when I wonder why I'm staying over here at her house. She's suppose to let me know when she wants something like that done. But I guess I should be gratefull she feels well enough to try doing stuff like that ... even though it was probably a lot of strain on her.
And then there's me seeing those old books Dad brought in the thirtys and fortys and thinking about going ahead and take them over to my house.
Sunday January 20, 2002
6:10a
Still hanging on. It was one of them cold rainy Saturdays that dampens the spirit to do anything.
About the webpages stats ... I still haven't looked at the numbers closely but just did some random checking ... it looks like someone or sometwo have been reading the older parts of the Journal. The total page views went over 12000 today ... but actually that happened about 500 views ago since I deleted some of the files that weren't drawing much attention.
So anyway it's time get on with doing another Sunday routine.
Monday January 21, 2002
6:15a
I wonder when Eron events will be classified as terrorism and treason against a nation? Those corporation executives did more harm to the States than a dozen Walkers. It's that type of corruption and greed of the rich and powerful that will be a factor in the internal failure of a country.
When will the rest of the world that put down the States for abuse and oppression of the common people in other countries realize those same corporations are abusing and oppressing the common people in the States?
The Isreal - Palestine conflict has become a personal grudge Arafat - Sharon conflict. There's no hope there anymore. There will never be an uprising of the common people against their own leaders who refuse to talk peace.
What does it really mean when the people using internet search engines use keywords like "terrorist america" in August 2001 and "kill all arabs" after September 11, 2001? It means the intelligence community knew something was going to happen. It means people still group all together for the acts of a few.
Thursday January 24, 2002
5:50a
It was Monday or Tuesday evening when I took all the stuff off the high shelve in the laundry room. I boxed them up, vaccummed, damp washed the shelve and put some of the boxes back up there. I found one box over the toilet, it had most or all the old small cameras that had been used at one time or another. There's a rain hat that Dad used up there too. There were some candles in glass that I had brought over here once when the power went out. So anyway that part of the chore is done. The boxes I will take over to my house some day.
Someone who had been visiting the webpages took time to send an email. That was a pleasant change from just seeing the stats numbers.
I was doing some searches on the internet at work yesterday, looking for technical stuff on sound mapping. That's measuring sound intensity from a tool and letting the B & K analyzer draw the contour plots to see where the noise is coming from. So I was using google.com like I normally do, typed in "sound mapping" and "B & K" and pressed the search button. There seems to be only one person on the internet who knows anything about those two keyphrases. It was one of them dumbfounded feelings as I looked at the computer screen. "Geeshh"
Sunday January 27, 2002
5:50a
Yesterday was mostly spent filing and refiling the bills, bank statements and such for most of last year ... and all the years before. It was an effort to re-group some of them into a new, additional box. I've really got to let the past go, but then, I've had them all for all these years so might as well keep trying. I opened one of the paper bags and saw the check Dad wrote for a deposit toward my first semester college tuition at Clemson. That was Feburary 1967 I think. It was 50 dollars, I don't remember what the actual tuition was, probably 3 or 4 hundred.
Of course there were all the other usual routines for Saturday.
I was going to do the year-end check book balancing too. That means add in the interest and take away the service charges and then see what the accumulated error was. That was $16.31 so now I need to type up the check entries and run that program I wrote to see where the mistakes are.
But ... while looking at the register I saw the deposit entry I did on Friday. It looked odd so I got the desposit slip out and looked at it. As I realized what I had done my face turned warm, blood pressure building up. I had deposited to paychecks and some how I didn't get the sum wrote down correctly. It was $1,100 too low. The lady bank teller had made the entry just as I had wrote them down and without catching the mistake or giving me cash back or asking exactly what I wanted done. So now I'll have to go back to the bank and try and get that straightened out. It all looks like I got cash back but didn't. I can only hope their books didn't balance Friday and can get them to credit my account. It's a perfect opportunity for someone in the system to just get the cash out and leave me with no way to prove otherwise.
It's all because of my depressed state of mind that such mistakes happen. I'm all the time thinking about the way my life is at the moment and where it's going in the future. It's taking care of Mom, wondering how long the job with hold out, what might happen if this terrorism thing causes more and more economic depression, bankrupts the country, no retirement income, and on and on and on.
It's all the time thinking about things I have no control over or even an iota of influence. I think Bush is a poor world leader, he will always be a cowboy politican from Texas, using 5th grade cliches to inspire the masses. I think the republicans will, and have, take every advantage of this terrorism thing they can to get whatever they want. Not that the democrats wouldn't have done the same. The criminal laws have kids in prison that shouldn't be there. There's hundreds of Enrons out there waiting to happen. Too many in the rest of the world hate the States and American, it's like racism and bigotry against the States.
The naacp is still hung up on that flag thing. They're not satisfied with it being off the building like they orginally wanted. Now they want it off the government property. It occurred to me yesterday I'm starting to feel like wanting the terrorists to make Columbia the next target. Crash a plane into the capital building and grounds and just get rid of the whole mess. And then there's the Aiken site and Oconee site, blow those places up too, make a radiation waste land of the whole state. Just get rid of everything related to South Carolina, the Old South, the Civil War, slavery, monuments, symbols.
It's all the same genre of hatred, anti States, anti America, anti South, anti Isreal. It's all looking at the past wrongs to justify present hate and destructive actions.
Monday January 28, 2002
5:45a
Sunday afternoon. Leander arrived about 12:30 and visited with Mom for till about 4:00.
I finally made myself drive out to the visitor center at the Oconee site. I don't remember the last time I was there, it may have been during the early 1990s or the decade before. It feels like only a few times, like 3 or 4, since 1975. But anyway the first times there was during the late 1960s and maybe a couple of times during the early 1970s when I was home from Virgina Beach.
I did manage to cultivate a feel and sense of the older times during its construction. It's mostly the same as it's always been. They still have the three dimensional landscape of the lake area and the walk through story of energy is the same too. Except for the very last exhibit which is a nature type with stuffed animals and a live trout tank. I really don't remember that before.
Down stairs they have the same pictures of moving one of the reactors, they've been there 30 years more or less. A display of the foot bridges along the Foothills trail are there now too. The background picture is of Whitewater Falls.
I walked down the picnic trail to the very edge of the lake. I sat on one of the rip rocks and smoke a cig. Across the waters is the cove beach where I use to go and lay in the sun and float around and walk around nude. And there's that small island where I did the same also.
But all that is the past now. The visits during its construction, the stop bys while going to and coming from Clemson, those home visits during the Navy years and shortly afterwards.
Its all suppose to have something to do with the passage of time, decades, and re-visiting the exact same places after half a lifetime. It's just that there has not been a great sense of a life time of experiences 'twist and 'tween.
The expectations of a career in computer sciences, space explorations (we were suppose to have had a Lunar colony and on to Mars by the end of the century) ... but that was then. This is now ... still trying to get the first real space station built, world economies failing, terrorists flying airliners into buildings, elderly parent care, a hodge podge of work exeperiences. And exactly the same social - political - science issues.
Tuesday January 29, 2002
6:20a
I stopped by the bank yesterday after work. They found my mistake and credited the account for the difference on the deposit. So that's ok. While there I asked about online access to check on things like that and went ahead and started that process. I got the email this morning with the link to where I was suppose to finish the process. It requires a banking card and I don't have one of those. So now I guess I'll just let that slide by. I didn't use those types of cards much when I use to have one.
I started another sound mapping project at work, or rather it's the continuation of the previous project. At least it's something to do and keep me off the cnn discussion.
I guess that's all for this morning.
Wednesday January 30, 2002
5:50a
The last few days I've wondered if they are any late teens and twenty somethings from the opposing sides who could do a better job of working out a peace agreement. It's really their future and their input should be considered. Elders making decisions based on an assumed wisdom from experience is good, but there's also the assumation they can suppress their own bad experiences between them. Maybe that's true for the youth as well considering they all have had bad experiences.
Are there seven teenagers from Palestine and seven teenagers from Isreal who can talk peace for the millions of other teenagers?
Thursday January 31, 2002
5:50a
The analytical group went down to Anderson again yesterday to finish the vibration measurements on the table saws. I was going to ride with Joe again too. But on the way out Lawrence was in front of me in the hall and I made a comment about when will they start a shuttle bus service between the plants. He asked how we were traveling and asked if one of us would take the company car down. So I had to drive the green Lincoln 30 miles between Pickens and Anderson on US 178.
I must have spent 5 minutes getting the seat adjusted, seeing where all the buttons and switches were at least the important ones, cranking it, wipping the dew off the side window. Earl was sitting in his truck behind me waiting.
So I drove the big fancy car down the highway, through the fog.
The heater was on, I didn't take my coat off before getting in, it got warm in there but I wouldn't mess around trying to find how to turn the heat off. I just kept my hands on the wheel and watched straight ahead.
When we went down the first time, that was on Monday, Joe and I ate at a Sonic drive-in type resturant. It was all 50s style with curb service even, except all the parking places had intercomms and menu boards. There was a covered area with tables and that's where we ate.
It's been extra warm this week, 70s for 2 or 3 days. But winter comes back next week.
Relativity in social-political world order ... terrorism doesn't amount to much in the longer, grander scheme of everything. It's still going to be all us humans who overload the system during the next 100 or 200 years. Terrorism is just another distraction, focusing attention and resources away from the real battles for survival.
Friday February 1, 2002
6:05a
Nothing new.
Saturday Feburary 2, 2002
5:50a
I arrived at Mom's for lunch at the usual time yesterday. She was sitting in her chair and was using the portable oxygen tank. I looked at the concentrator and it was off. I asked what's wrong. She said part of the tubing broke, it was the connector between the long tube and the short tube. I asked when did that happen and she said a little over an hour ago. I get all upset but kept it to myself like I always do. She still refuses to call me when something goes wrong. It's don't destrub Jerry at work or just don't call on Jerry.
I start to thinking about getting her on the big tank so I can drive down to Easley to get a replacement. But she says eat lunch first. I get upset more, it's always don't let Jerry do anything he thinks is right. So I just hurry up and eat my sandwich. And then I call the Air Care people to see if they have a truck near by or I if I should just drive on down. The lady there's says she'll call back and she did. They'll have someone here about 2:00. I just sit back down and wait.
The man called back and I told him how to get to the Ridge road. Later I was out on the porch when I saw him drive around the circle. He just drove by the driveway. I waved at him but he didn't see me and kept on going. A few minutes later he drives back around and I get his attention this time. I learned while filling out a form that he didn't get any address number and that's why he didn't stop at the mailbox.
But anyway ... he left a new long tube and a couple of connectors. I had thought they were one piece and had asked for a long tube. So anyway that's over with.
I learned that it's not all that easy to find someone at work too. I looked on my phone list that I carry around, it was a new listing and I had left off Earl's extension number. I tried calling 3 others but no one answered. Ended up calling the switchboard number and that got transferred to the guard shack. He gave me Earl's number and then switched me to him.
Mom finally realized that she could have sat next to the concentrator and used it while we were waiting for the service man to get here. Oh well, it's over and done with again.
Tuesday February 5, 2002
5:55a
I got a reply from that man who wanted a name to send his resume to this morning. I sent email telling him about forwarded his email to Lawrence on Jan 29. He had sent his email that same day. It only took a week for Mindspring to get it through their system from his account to mine. ... Then again someone may be snooping around again too.
I had another bad heart day Saturday afternoon from noon till three thirty. That about 4 so far this year. I've cut back on the caffine and nicotine again. Not that will do much good. I think it's the stress, depression, lack of good sleep and general bad attitude more than anything else.
Another winter strom is coming this week too, about Wednesday afternoon and on into Thursday or Friday morning. It has been nice, warm weather and I should have gotten that generator then. But ... those things are heavy, I didn't know how to get it here and set up by myself and without it being too upsetting for Mom. And then there would have been the worry over whether or not it would really work when needed. So I just gave up before getting started again.
So whatever is going to happen is going to happen.
Potus, the republicans, the democrats, congress, politicians, news media, special interest groups, corporate leaders and all others crooked corrupt criminal types will finish what bin laden started. That's the fall of the great States world empire. They will all break the country finacially just like the States out spent the Soviets. It'll be like it is in Argentina now.
I've been thinking of some time line of how it will all play out over the next 100 or 200 years. But the details just keep getting in the way. About all I've accomplished is everything has only been advanced by 10, 20 or 30 years. I had thought that I would just see the beginning of the end before my days are completed. But now it looks like most of the remaining days will be struggling through the beginnings of it all.
The cnn discussion boards have been closed. I haven't been able to find any reason for it either. Of course that's probably good for me anyway. I needed to be cut off from that mess. It all was just people arguing, fighting, bickering over the same issues with the same reasons, over and over and over again. It's just that I wonder why they closed them all.
Time to finish my morning rituals. Bye.
Thursday February 7, 2002
5:50a
It was a cold rain yesterday instead of freezing rain, sleet and snow. It's still drizzling some this morning.
I got a notice from the internet service provider about the credit card expiration. That was Monday or Tuesday evening, which by the way, I don't normally connect to the internet in the evenings but I did then. I had gotten the new card a couple or three weeks ago but never called in to activate it. So that's what I did the other night. Call the bank and pushed buttons on the phone. Then called up the mindspring website and went through that process. I hope everything got done in time.
I had started one fill in project at work a couple of weeks ago. Then they found something else for me to get involved with. Then along came another one. And then another one. So I'm back to hurry up and get stuff done when I wanted to spend some quality time doing quality work on just a couple of things. Oh well.
It must have been early this week I got to thinking about Ralph for some reason. So I used one of the search engines and found a few entries. He's still doing the same job and living in the same place he's always been. His son is over at Furman now, same university and same major as his father.
I just don't understand how those search engines work anymore. It's all way too fast for such a specific person or item. Too many servers, too many webpages, too many kilo-miles of wire and cable. And they can't all have copied the whole web onto their individual machines. I just don't know anymore.
Monday February 11, 2002
6:10a
Saturday evening the front-inside-corner of the left-lower-back tooth broke off. It was one that had filling put in during the early 1970s or even teen years. It doesn't hurt except for the hot and cold drinks but that's about normal anyway. So now I will finally have to see about dental work which has been something I've been putting off for years. It's just more hassle and something to worry over.
The new-new neighbors that bought the Boozer house had their drop-in yesterday. When I left to go over to my house for a while there were cars parked along side the road all the way down to the Ridge road. It was for people they knew as well. I had thought about going but I don't do well in that large of a crowd. So I didn't go. Don't know if any of the other neighbors went. Maybe when I out cutting grass or doing yard work later we'll meet up.
There was another airline incident, some passenger tried getting into the cockpit. He busted out the lower panel and started to crawl through but one of the pilots use a fire axe to knock him out. Others were pulling him back into the passenger area too. It doesn't look like a terrorist thing yet, just some screwed up man. But it still works out to the terrorists' advantage. They have another data point on what will happen when they try again to take a plane and crash it. I suppose it's even possible the man was forced into such an act. That is if the terrorists threatened his family or something, just so they could test some new tactic.
The cnn boards are still closed. There's no real explaination as to why.
Wednesday February 13, 2002
5:55
The 10 second news commentary flashes [Segment the First] ....
1. News opinion polls, those are the questions which ask one thing but mean something else, or is it mean the same thing as something else? Like the public's approval rating of the president's actions in the war on terrorism .... nope, that's just the public's approval of the actions, it doesn't make any diff who's president.
2. Congressional investigation committees, that's when a bunch of senators and representatives have the opportunity to use dumb, simple minded, colorful phrases expressing their own contempt against the person they're investigating. So what does PT Barnum really have to do with a multi-billion dollar, twenty-first century scam that involves lobby payoffs to senators and representatives?
3. Trust the news media? You got to be kidding. Not since one of the local stations did a piece on a bad traffic intersection. They speeded up the background film to make the vehicles look like they were going faster.
4. The general public is basically a group of ignorant, simpleton folks. That's the way the politicans, special interest groups, news media and all others treat me. At least that's the way it feels.
5. John Walker is a nobody when it comes to treasonous acts. The leadership of Enron did more damage to the States than Walker. Congress members passing special interest legislation have done more damage than Walker. Pork barrel policies have done more damage. Crooked government contractors have done more damage. Walker's a nobody ... or is he a decoy?
Thursday February 14, 2002
5:50a
Potus is talking war with Iraq already, that'll be a bad way to go. It'll be better to let Hussien do something first so that there would be more tangible justification. With Potus' Texas cowboy mindset he probably thinks it would be easy like Afghanistan, and, the other countrys would be with the States.
Potus is demonstrating more that he's to take every advantage of the events. He's got his war by which to wag the public. And in the process do what the terrorist groups wanted in the end ... create more hate against the States and the holy war.
The world will be reduced to local and regional warlord power struggles within 10 years.
6. It's those pharmacutical corporations ... they con the public into thinking they need drugs and encourage them to ask their doctor for more drugs. Spend billions on ads and commericals. Drive up the cost of medicines. The poor and helpless can't even afford to go the their doctors to begin with much less ask for the medicines. But those dumb, gullible, easy rich people can.
Friday February 15, 2002
5:50a
7. Religion versus Science. There's been articles in recent issue of SciAm about this. It's the typical arguments, creationism vs evolution, what's taught in schools and what's not, religions have caused more wars and killings than anything else, so-on-and-so-forth.
About a hundred year ago some smart dude came up with the idea that space and time are the same thing, almost. Everyone thought him extremely insightful for such an observation. Wonder when someone will make the same connection between religion and science?
Extreme technology is indistinguishable from magic ... so when does faith and belief in science become indistinguishable from the same in religion?
Did God create man or did man create God? Why do you assume there's nothing but these two? Lots of weird stuff came out the big band theory but then God is a weird concept to some humans.
By the way ... science and technology made the killing more efficient for those individual humans who ill use other peoples' religious beliefs.
Science without religion is like brain without mind ... is like mind without soul.
Wednesday February 20, 2002
5:45a
Frances arrived Saturday afternoon and stayed till Sunday afternoon. So that was different from the mostly same weekend routine. She brought mom a couple of House on the Perrie books that were Christmas presents. We had the usual pizza for supper Saturday and Chinese for lunch Sunday. It was her birthday on Monday so we had cake Saturday night too. There was discussion about what kind to get and what she didn't like. It was coconut like I had thought. So mom wrote pound cake on the list and that's what I got, a plain pound cake. When mom saw it she said "Jerry", so it was suppose to have icing and happy birthday wrote on it. But I've gotten so use to doing things wrong doing only exactly what's written on the list that I just got a plain cake.
At work the computer person got Earl a new computer and I got his old one. Now I have to spend time finishing setting up the programs and files like they were on my old computer. It's mostly a hassle and confussion and worry over loosing files. I've got to erase the personal stuff on my old one too. It's mostly just getting rid of the files so I'll know they're gone. It's just the personal email stuff and my journal that needs to be gone.
Daniel forwarded part of an email from one of his carreer friends in Los Alamos. It concerned a Gov Francis Pickens about the 1850s and 1860s. He wanted to know how he was related to the town Pickens. So I did that bit of research on Friday morning and emailed them.
Gov Pickens is a grandson of Gen Andrew Pickens of revolutionary war era. It's the Gen who the town is named for. There're some Calhoun connections too which ties in with Clemson University campus. The war between the states Camp Pickens was near Sandy Springs between Clemson and Anderson.
I still get tense sometimes and it's just when I'm doing ordinary stuff, like sabre saw testing at work. But I don't think it's as bad as it use to be. I've reduced the caffine by about half for a week or ten days. So maybe I've just become sensitive to caffine. It's also possible that the extra stress of the last few years, like since 1996 when I had the herina thing, with the caffine just made it feel worst. I'm always thinking bad health with the tenseness ... should have been thinking just too much caffine and stress.
Still smoking 10 cigs or so a day. I did get 3 days out of a pack for a couple of packs. But it's back to 8 and 10 a day now.
I stopped by the Hagood Mill site on Saturday afternoon. They've started the Cherokee village part up in the woods along side the creek. It's a shelter and a round house. The round house is made of posts and wooven branches with mud packed in them.
So anyway that's the Jounal entry for today.
Oh yeah, do a google.com search on "Bush is a jerk" and "Bush is an idiot" It's always interesting what one can find with phrases like that.
Want to learn about "sound mapping" "b&k"? Try that one also. Seems like there's only one expert (?) in that field of engineering. ... Oh never mind. I've already written about that on January 24th.
Monday February 25, 2002
6:10a
Wednesday and Thursday I moved into a different office at work. It had been talked about for a few months. But knowing how plans get changed or cancelled I waited till the boss told me it was really going to happen. It's the office next to Earl's. It has a window with a view of the smoking area out back. At least there's daylight.
I had been doing more sabre saw testing, measuring cutting forces. I got back on that Friday, mostly organizing and documenting the data before I forg0t what it was I did.
Saturday I hauled the bush that had been piling up in Mom's backyard to the brush dump next to the driveway at my house. Raked the leaves off the edge of the driveway too while I was down there. Get it ready for the next gully washer rains.
Sunday I moved the boxes of books, glass candles, and other items that I packed up a few weeks in the laundry room to my house. So now there's more stuff over there. I don't know what I will do when I run out of storage space there. It seems such a waste to throw something out that's been held onto for all these years and decades. It's too much like tossing family history out on the trash pile.
Wednesday February 27, 2002
5:25a
The cold air mass has arrived overnight. It's 20 degrees, gusty winds. The vents on the roof are squeeking, that oil I put on them a week or so ago didn't last long.
In 32 days, on April 1st, it will have been 500 days since I slept in my house on my couch in my living space. April Fool's Day Jerry, you have no life to call your own. I've slept on the floor in the front bedroom for over a year now. I think I started that about January or February of last year.
I dreamed of floating through the air last night. I've decided it had something to do with me thinking of how science and technology of ancient civilizations become the myth and ledgends of future ones. Humans were like gods once, they flew through the sky like birds, talked to each other around the earth and so on.
That's all, bye.
Monday March 4, 2002
6:00a
It was just another weekend. I plan to do something different, it doesn't happen. I spend my time trying to catch up on sleep instead, but I still wake up early anyway.
I did manage to do one thing. Jason had borrowed Mom's electric heaters a while back and had returned them a while back too. She tried to use one this past week but it wouldn't work. It was the one Dad had used in the greenhouse. I looked at it and saw the wire broke where it goes into the housing. So I did that on Saturday. I took the back off and got the wire out, it had terminals on them. I cleaned the insides out, no telling how old some of that dust and lent was. Then I took the wire and toolbox over to my house to fix it because that's where I would have had terminals that might work. So I sat in my living space and fixed it by using a nail and small hammer to crimp the terminal on to the wire.
The hatred and killing in the Mideast and South Asia is on the rise again. Those hamas leaders must feel really powerful, I mean personal power. They control and influence individual Palestinians so much to cause them to kill themselves. They don't really have any political goals, Paletinian state or self rule. They just like making people kill themselves and others.
It the same between the Hindu and Muslims in the Pakistan India region. They're just a bunch of individual leaders who get their satisfication out of causing others to kill and burn each other.
Bin Laden was the same too. Just an egotistical greedy person for his own self interests, power, influence and control of others. He used the Afghans, Pakistains, Arabs and others.
Tuesday March 5, 2002
5:40a
Yesterday afternoon Earl, Joe, Joel and I did the sound level testing on one of the gasoline engine string trimmers. We were up on the hill parking lot, it's closed now so there were no vehicles up there. The real time analyzer was on the pavement, the tripod with the trimmer was there, the measurement distances were marked in chalk, the power cord was run from Joel's office up the steps to the parking lot, the microphone on the long pole was there. I operated the analyzer, Joe moved and held the microphone around, Earl wrote down the measurements. The measurements weren't making any sense. So we gave up to trying again another day and moved all the stuff back to the lab. Joe found a switch in the wrong position later, so that was the problem. It would have been something different at work, well it was different. It would have been more pleasant if it had worked out the first time. Oh yeah ...
It would have been more pleasant too if it had not been 35 degrees with wind gusts in the 20-30 mph range. It felt more like an Artic test than a sound test.
When I got to my house after work yesterday I sat on the couch and just slumpped over all hunchback like. I must have sat that way too long. I've got a pain in the lower right back now. It's not too bad though.
I got an email from some company in India this morning. They're wanting me to bid on providing them some gear hobbing equipment, the really big kind. They mentioned my "impressive website". Of course none of it makes any sense. They just found a reference to gear design work on my resume is all. And then made a really giant leap to a conclusion that I'm a gear hobbing equipment manufactuer or provider.
Doesn't anybody out there ever really think about what they're reading on the internet?
On April 2 Geocites - Yahoo will start charging for the ftp connection and service. I'll have to go back to using their file manger upload method. I suppose it's better than it use to be, I've used it some within the last year or two. But it's easy to just start the Mindspring ftp s/w, make the connection, do the upload, and then close it and it's done. They must be hurting for money now. It's all be too free for too long I guess. I think I'll use it the new way now and upload this file with the latest entry.
Thursday March 7, 2002
6:00a
Robert sent the url for the pictures of the newest addition to the family. Tanya and Chris had their second child on February 18th, it's a girl Lily Anise Murphy. She's his third grandchild and Mom's fifth great-grandchild.
I suppose that's really all the latest news. Everything else is mostly the same daily routines.
I haven't taken time to write email to others. I think about doing that but it seems like there's not much different to write about. So, "Hi to all you regular readers."
One of my friends from the Singer - Ryobi years sent email on Monday to the work address. He's been traveling for the new company he works for now. That was the week before. His mother passed away that week too. That was sad news.
I've started following the genealogy forums again recently. There's one person who has his ancestory back to Gibson Hughes. I guess he knows what is what and who and who, at least as well as any of us. That means our connections to Gibson are not right. It was mostly a best guess anyway.
So now I'll just have to go back to what I remember being told during the 1950's and that 1960s reunion at Parris Mountain. Toliver Hughes' parents are Joel and Delilia Hughes and that Joel Hughes's father is another Joel Hughes and John R Hughes married his aunt Sally Hughes and that's why that family was furious over the marriage like it said in that probate record over in Greenville and that's why I got all confused when one of my grandaunts was telling me who was who at the family reunion that year.
Friday March 8, 2002
5:40a
Hamas has reduced itself to "killing for the sake of killing." Even revenage killings has no real meaning any longer, it's just another rational within its mind for more and more death and destruction. There's not even the recognition that acts of revenage apply to both sides now. It's as if hamas doesn't even care they are effectively murdering their own people.
But why do the common Palestinians tolerate such? Is their hatred of Israel and the States so great that all they want is the destruction of both even if it means their own as well? Most would say it's the policies of those two that they disagree with. Most would say they don't hate Isreal or the States or their peoples. But even those rationals have be lost to revenage killings.
They want a Palestinian state, self rule and peace? The States will know no peace till Palestinians know peace? Where has Israel's peace been known? What single day has passed by in 30, 40, 50 years that death to Israel, death to America, yankee go home has ***not*** been uttered by some group who wants no peace for them?
Bin Laden and his alqaeda are no different than hamas. They both look for and find reasons to kill for the sake of killing. Egotisitally inflated self worth and self importance. Where was his concern for the Afgans after the Soviets left? Did he seek to rebuild that war torn country with his personal wealth? Did he provide for the refugees from war lord battles and drought? No. He looked for reasons, justifications, rationals to continue his own self importance in a personal kind of jihad.
The Soviets were defeated and driven out. The same can be done with the States. Americans have no tolerance for war, battles, deaths. A paper tiger. Delusional thinking isn't it.
Saturday March 9, 2002
6:05a
My mind has been awake since 1:30. I managed to lay on the floor till 3:00 when I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I laid back down for about 40 minutes. It's been like that most nights the last couple of weeks. I used to sleep 6 hours, then it was 5 hours and now it is 4 hours. How long can a body and mind go with 4 and 5 hours rest every night?
Got an email from Robert this morning. It was about Bob Dylan and some papers I supposedly sent to him and the concerts I supposedly have been to. But I haven't done either. The email got here about 2 hours before he sent it too. That's all kinda weird.
It's about 60 degrees this morning, it may be down to 55 by now. Anyway, it's close enough to Spring time mornings. I actually walked down to the end of the driveway this morning. It's interesting how such a little bit of difference in routine and something so simple but seldom done can make things feel different. Not really that much diff but some.
Sharon has given up on hamas and Arafat and the Palestinians going 7 days without attacking Israel. He's going to start talking with them again, supposedly. But nothing is ever certain over there ... except killing, murdering, bombing, shooting by hamas and others till they get what they want.
It's the future of the world ... a world ruled by ruthless individuals who kill for the sake of killing till they get what they want.
Monday March 11, 2002
5:20a
Revenage and Retaliation, otherwise known as violence begats violence, cycle of violence, hate breds hate, so-on-and-so-forth.
There's a critical point of no return somewhere along this line of chain reaction in the human social structure. I suspect that has already happened, not that I can point to any single event. It's probably when the words and phrases being used changed from political goals and objectives to personal ones.
I suppose it could also be that point in the series of events when the two opponents no longer recoginize or care that they have made each other into what they both have become. Maybe it's that point in time when it becomes impossible to see who's the oppresser and who's the oppressed. Maybe it's that point when one leader seeks revenage without a thought that their opponent is only doing the same.
Without control rods there's only one end result. The reaction runs its course till there's no fuel left to burn. Insert a few control rods ... or is it remove a few dominos down stream ... and the reaction stops in its tracks.
Wednesday March 13, 2002
5:55a
Over the weekend Leander came up for a visit on Saturday. DM and Mickey came up on Sunday afternoon, they brought a walker for Mom to use. I guess it will help some, I have seen her use it yet, she's only carried into the bedroom at night but it sitts next to her chair in the evenings.
I got some video tapes on Sunday. We watched Fred Astair's Bandwagon last night. The other two are Oliver and Little Rascals.
There's just nothing on tv worth watching anymore. We watch that cartoon Dragontales on PBS instead of one of the local news half hours. And then there's that Fear Factor which mostly hype talk and grossness factor, except for the real stunts.
I've gotten another email from Robert where he writes about things that I've not sent or talked about. I'll have to call him from work this morning to see what's what. It's that snoop and sneak factor again, someone's playing games with my internet and email connections.
Well, that's it for now. ... Oh yeah, I added another Terrorism page. It's just some thoughts posted at one of the ABC forum boards. I had just started a good exchange with a couple of others, then ABC archives the topic. Typical.
Thursday March 15, 2002
5:25a
I got another email from Robert yesterday morning. He mentioned a couple of things that don't make sense again. It was another as if I had sent him email or talked about some subject with him, but I haven't. So it's something to do with his email address book maybe, like he's got my name associated with someone else's address. It's either that or some has copped our mailers. Some using our mailers to make up messages to send to the other.
I tried calling him at work yesterday morning too. He wasn't there. A little later I tried at his house, the phone connection didn't make the first time, then it was busy, and the last time it was an answering service, probably aol's. I sent an email from work but got no response then either.
So anyway, what's what with all this?
Mom called over to her lung doctor's office yesterday, she had been trying all week I learned. She got a prescription for anti-biotics and wanted me to stop by the pharmacy to pick it up. I left work early and did that and stopped by the bank. Then it was on to my house for a few minutes and then back to here. We had our supper and watched the news and then one of the videos I got Sunday, the old little rascals. So anyway about going to bed time I asked if she had taken one of the pills. She said she wanted to "wait till daylight, it's got 400 mg of something."
She's gotten, or has been concerned over too much medicine. That's one of the reason's she didn't want to continue with her heart doctor. She's not taking that much or that many different kinds. It's just all the recent talk in the news and some other individuals conditions about over medication. So it's gotten people to doing under-medication now.
I just don't have what it takes to talk her into doing what I think she needs to do. I'll mention it once, or none, and then that's the end of it. After a while one just gives up trying. But then again, when have I ever made a correct decision about anything anyway?
It's all that Hayes stubborness gene. We're all to stubborn to do what someone else wants us to do.
The wife of one of the people at work had an emergency medical condition. It looked like a brain anerism or something. That was over the weekend I think. Anyway he got her to the hospital and after she was being taken care of he called one person. That person called the pastor and deacons, they called others. So during the early morning hours, like 2:00am, there's a whole bunch of people started praying for her and him. What had started out as a serious condition didn't show up in later testing but she was still in icu. Such is people's faith, or the power of people's faith, or the power of what they believe to be Power.
Sometimes I feel like my faith couldn't even move the mustard seed that can move mountains.
Monday March 18, 2002
5:50a
Yesterday afternoon I went up to the video rental place and got four more videos. One was Michael Flatley's Feet of Flames, the Irish dance concert in Hyde Park in 1998. We watched it last night. Mom didn't like it much, two solid hours of the same noise she said. Oh well, I try, I lose.
Also yesterday afternoon while over at my house I changed the Show No Mercy webpage back to the original. There's been no fundamental change on that issue so might as well go back to the way it was, is and will be. It picked up 7 page visits yesterday too, but 2 or 3 of them are mine checking out that it loads correctly. I guess the others are about the normal number.
It will take a terrorist hit on the capital grounds to put that issue in its proper perspective. At least for most people, it's truly an obsession for one group.
The war with Iraq will be this Summer. Potus has made up his mind to have one and will not be satisfied till he gets what he wants. It will be a bad end for everyone. Israel will be attacked before the States finish getting its forces in place. Whatever bio-chem weapons Hussein already has will be used on both the people in the mid-east as well as the American soliders in Iraq. That probably goes for the nuclear material he already has as well.
It really part of that terrorist plan that's already in progress. Get Potus to do things that will finish destroying America that they began. It's just like what hamas has done with Israel. And it's also been part of the plan to just get the States to spend itself into oblivion. Terrorism pays off in the end.
I think some of the regular visitors have moved on. There's not as many page visits as they use to be on the Journal pages. But there's still more activity on some of the other pages than before last August. It's the keywords people use to do internet searches. I've wondered recently if any of the adminstrators of those search engines have done stats on keywords. It seems like that would be a fairly good indicator of what people are really looking for and what they're really concerned about.
That lady with the Pendleton Geneaology group called on Thursday. They want to print the Ladd and Redmond story in book form. It'll just be a few copies for those who read parts of it in their newsletter. Seems like their were several who didn't like trying to follow along a few pages every month. So she is to be here at noon time today to pick up the manuscript. I made a MS Word file too so they can to some editting if they want to.
That's all, bye.
Tuesday March 19, 2002
6:20a
It's Tuesday but already feels like a Wednesday. The lady from the geneaology group stopped by at noon time. So that manuscript is on the way to being a real book, even though a small, specific interest, research one. She talked with Mom some till I got here for lunch. It was learned her son has some health problems. It was caused by a bad mix of medicine and caffine while in the military. After that bit of news settled into my mind it was one of those "shut up and stop your complaining about your own life's misfortunes Jerry" moments.
We watched Fred Astaires Fainian's Rainbow last evening. It was a good old fashion movie.
So that's it again and bye again.
Wednesday March 20, 2002
6:00a
Spring 2002 has arrived.
Tuesday March 26,2002
6:00a
I've already moved on to the Book 9 Part 5. Click on "Next" below.